PART 2

Describe a time when your computer broke down

You should say:

• When it was
• What you were doing
• What you did about it
• And explain how you felt about it
It didn’t take me long to come up with* something to talk about because this happened to me not that long ago
and it is still fresh in my memory**. It was a bit of a nightmare*** and is a painful memory****, to be perfectly
honest.
*to come up with = **it is still fresh in my memory = ***a bit of a nightmare = ****a painful memory
to think of I can remember it clearly very bad = a bad memory

I can remember precisely* when it was because it was just a few weeks back when I was
working on a project/assignment and the deadline was looming**. I hadn’t left it to the
last minute because I am a fairly organised person, but it was a complicated*** task that
required a great deal of research. I’d done most of the legwork**** and I was just
starting to write up the paper. I’d written about 3000 words and had roughly 2k to do
when disaster struck****. My PC just shut down. I immediately started panicking*****
because I wasn’t sure if I’d saved the document recently.

*precisely = exactly **looming = soon ***complicated = complex ****to do the legwork = the process of getting all the information

****disaster struck = something bad happened *****to start panicking = a sudden strong feeling of fear

Fluency and Coherence - Organisation

Grammatical Range and Accuracy - Grammar
Lexical Resource - Vocabulary
I tried switching it back on* and nothing happened. I could have screamed, but I took a deep breath** and tried to
stay calm***. I am computer literate**** and have solved a few minor issues that I’ve experienced over the years. I
even replaced a GPU once, but when a computer won’t even start up then you’re a bit stuck*****.
*to switch on = to turn on **to take a deep breath = to pause for a moment ***to stay calm = to not get angry

****to be computer/IT literate = to be able to use a computer well *****to be a bit stuck = to be unable to do anything

Luckily, my best friend is a computer geek* and works in IT so I phoned him. He was tied up** in a meeting
so I had an agonising*** half hour waiting for him to call me back. When he returned my call, I went
through what had happened and he said it could be the power cable. Fortunately, my previous laptop is
the same make**** and I still had the power cable. I swapped the cables and it booted up. The relief was
palpable*****. Sadly, I’d lost about 300 words, but that was a small price to pay******. It could have been
so much worse. Now I save things every few seconds just in case*******.

*a computer geek = a computer expert **to be tied up = to be busy ***agonising = causing extreme physical or mental pain

****the make = the manufacturer *****the relief was palpable = very intense/strong ******a small price to pay = a small sacrifice

*******just in case = to protect against

Fluency and Coherence - Organisation something bad happening
Grammatical Range and Accuracy - Grammar
Lexical Resource - Vocabulary